1. Cross-Reference to Related Applications
This is related to U.S. Pat. applications Ser. No. 07/239,734 filed on Sept. 2,1988, entitled "Selectively Actuatable Lighter" now U.S. Pat. No. 5,002,482, and Ser. No. 07/455,059 filed on Dec. 22, 1989, entitled "Bidirectional Selectively Actuatable Lighter", each of which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to lighters which consume fuel such as, for example, butane which is stored in a reservoir in a liquid state, then passed through a valve means where it becomes gaseous, and finally ignited by a spark or other similar means. More particularly, the invention relates to a disposable butane cigarette lighter having a locking mechanism which prevents lifting of a valve, or fuel, nozzle and in turn prevents the fuel nozzle from expelling the fuel thereby rendering operation of the lighter by young children difficult. The locking mechanism of the lighter may be deactivated by moving a locking latch to a non-interfering position which enables lifting of the valve, or fuel, nozzle thus increasing the user friendliness of the lighter to the intended users.
3. Description of the Prior Art
Various prior art lighters, some of them incorporating safety or locking features, are known. Such features are generally provided to reduce the risk of injury to an operator or bystanders. Some of these features relate to mechanisms which prevent ignition of a fuel source unless the lighter is properly oriented, mechanisms which control a fuel source supply valve and tamper protection arrangements.
More recently, attention has been directed toward preventing ready actuation of such lighters by persons normally not able to appreciate the potential danger of the flame. Such danger includes the potential to burn the individual directly or to burn surrounding areas or items, thus creating the possibility of spreading to a fully developed fire. Individuals normally contemplated in these efforts are small children, mostly in the age category of five years or younger.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,830,603 to Cirami, not regarded as prior art, relates to a cigarette lighter in which a locking mechanism is provided partially under a valve-actuating pushbutton and extends into a compartment appended to but distinct from a fuel compartment. The locking mechanism relocks itself after each depression of the pushbutton. In particular, one end of a stiffly flexible, spring steel wire is held firmly in place in the compartment. Another end of the spring steel wire forms a probe extending into a channel provided in the underside of the pushbutton. The spring steel wire, in a locked configuration, prevents depression of the pushbutton by engaging a low ceiling on the underside of the pushbutton. A portion of the spring steel wire in the form of a loop extending outward from the lighter is accessible by an operator and may be suitably moved by the operator thereby causing the probe to move within the channel in the underside of the pushbutton.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,832,596 to Morris, Sr., not regarded as prior art, relates to a cigarette lighter having a stop member slidably mounted thereon for releasably engaging a gas valve actuating lever. In particular, a spring biased stop member is slidably mounted on a top portion of a conventional portable disposable cigarette lighter. The stop member is biased so as to place one of its ends under the lighter's gas valve actuating lever so as to prevent movement of the lever in a direction which may open the gas valve. The lever may be actuated once the stop member is pushed in a direction opposite to the biasing force of the spring so as to slide the end which is under the lighter's gas valve outward.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,717,335 to Loveless relates to a cigarette lighter in which rotation of a spark-producing wheel is limited. In particular, the spark-producing wheel may be rotated in one direction to deliver a spark toward a nozzle through which gaseous fuel is passed, thereby operating the lighter and causing fuel to ignite. Rotation of the spark-producing wheel in the other direction may deliver a spark away from the nozzle. The spark-producing wheel has a pin-shaped structure attached thereto which serves to limit the rotation of the wheel to under 360 by contacting the housing structure. Thus, whether a spark indeed is produced depends upon the direction of attempted rotation and the position of the pin-shaped structure relative to the housing structure. In theory, once the lighter is operated and the fuel ignited, and the pin-shaped structure has traversed its entire path of travel, subsequent operation of the lighter is impeded since the pin-shaped structure comes into contact with the housing, preventing a spark from occurring in the vicinity of the fuel nozzle.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,028,043 and 4,049,370 each to Neyret relate to presale tamper protection mechanisms which partially surround a spark-producing wheel, fuel nozzle or depressable valve actuation member of a lighter. These presale tamper protection mechanisms are attached to the lighter housing by frangible webs and are removed by a purchaser after sale of the lighter to expose the spark-producing wheel, fuel nozzle and depressable valve actuation member. However, such a presale tamper protection mechanism is of limited value once initially removed by a purchaser.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,547,566 to Tamarin and U.S. Pat. No. 3,899,286 to Lockwood et al. relate to lighters having orientation sensing mechanisms which hinder or prevent actuation of the lighter in an inverted position. Unfortunately such mechanisms may not provide a sufficient degree of safety to young children who tamper with the lighter since they merely hinder operation in prescribed orientations.
Many safety or locking mechanisms are unnecessarily complicated, present difficulty in their manufacture, and exhibit a high likelihood of mechanical failure during use. Another disadvantage found in some devices is that the particular construction employed limits the shape and size of the lighter housing due to the requirement that the housing be large enough to accommodate the safety mechanism(s). Further disadvantages relate to the relative ease which some safety mechanisms may be defeated and to the reliability of the safety mechanisms. For example, some safety mechanisms may be overridden or removed with relative ease. Additionally, some devices include inconveniently shaped levers or knobs which need to be actuated by the user in order to operate the lighter. Furthermore, some of these devices require repositioning of the lighter in an operator's hand after actuation of the safety mechanism and before the lighter is operated to produce a flame. A further disadvantage of some devices relates to the apparency of a means as a safety device whose function it is to prevent lighter actuation. In other words, the obviousness of a safety means may lead to increased efforts to circumvent the safety means.
Although it is known to prevent or hinder presale actuation of a depressable valve actuation member or actuation of a lighter in a specified orientation, none of the above-described lighters provides an efficiently manufacturable, relatively small, reliable mechanism for directly preventing lifting of the fuel nozzle and in turn preventing the fuel nozzle from expelling fuel.
Although current efforts as described herein may sometimes be referred to as "child-proof lighters", "child-resistant lighters" or the like, it should be made clear that such developments are actually directed toward minimizing ready flame production on a flame producing lighter by persons normally considered incapable of appreciating the potential danger of a lighter flame.
Consistent with such efforts is the recognition that to develop a "child-proof" lighter per se, would not be viable. At best it can be reasonably sought to create a lighter which is "child-resistant", but how "child-resistant" a lighter will be will depend upon related factors and circumstances. For example, it is known that lighters are specifically designed to produce a flame. Accordingly, if the lighter were to come into the possession of a person incapable of appreciating the potential danger of the flame a potentially dangerous situation will prevail. This situation would be independent of the operating condition of the lighter and would prevail even if the lighter is in perfect working order. Further, in many instances lighters contain clear written warnings prominently displayed on their surface and, without proper supervision, a young child who gains possession of the lighter can cause harm by the fact that the warning will not be appreciated since it cannot be read and/or understood by the child. Accordingly, "child-resistant" efforts are best directed toward protecting the child from its own acts should the child come into possession of a lighter with or without the parents' knowledge or consent. The potential danger would prevail even if the lighter is a properly functioning lighter and has a clear warning displayed thereon advising the user to keep the lighter out of the reach of children.
Nevertheless, any such "child-resistant" lighter will have its limitations with respect to young children, and no such lighter should provide parents or adults with a false sense of security so that they may become less cautious in their handling of the lighter or permit ready access to the lighter by young children. Further, such lighters should not be made so difficult to light as to cause adults to use alternative forms of lighting, i.e., matches, which are generally considered to be potentially more dangerous. At best, the lighter should provide a young child with sufficient deterrent features as to prevent the child from readily producing a flame on the lighter or to deter the child from readily producing a flame at least for a time sufficient to permit the normally expected intervention of adult supervision.
The present invention is directed toward a flame producing lighter which is selectively actuatable in such a manner as to provide a substantial degree of difficulty for young children--mostly five years or younger--to actuate the lighter and produce a flame, while being user friendly and capable of actuation by adults.